vx-underground was created to store malware source code, samples, and papers that I liked.

Since 2019 nothing has really changed except I got a team of friends, some help, and some malware source code, samples, and papers.

VXUG in 2019:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190522032703/http://vx-underground.org/

Thanks to everyones donations the new vx-underground hardware has arrived and is in prod.

Pros:
- Process malware faster than a fast thing
- Anime

Cons:
- Sounds like jet engine
- Makes room hotter than hell
- Scares the dog

We're so back.

We're correctly labeling our malware collection and filtering out the non-malicious files

Rumors are floating around someone has compromised wedding planning site 'TheKnot'. Someone is using it to send spam phishing links — accusing people's spouses of cheating.

Which one of you degenerates did this?

I got social engineered into giving an interview for BreachedForum.

They impersonated CyberScoopNews. It seemed strange the journalist was using a Gmail, but I never thought I would be tricked into a vx-underground interview.

Solid impersonation, silly goof.

10/10

Our interview with 'Grep' — impersonating a journalist.

https://x.com/vxunderground/status/1827002916856627556

New cooling system on fleek 🙏🙏

Thank you to our friend TracketPacer for the hardware donation to vx-underground. It doesn't seem fully functional, but it may be a mistake on our part.

We've sanitized the vx-underground malware ingestion releases for May, 2024. All samples are now named correctly. We're now processing June and July 2024.

It's literally only malware 🥺

United States Federal Bureau of Investigation: you're a person of interest

tfw the FBI is flirting with you (they think you're really interesting)

There have been multiple instances now where we end up speaking with Chief Executive Officer's at large, and well-known, cyber security company's.

Ultimately during the course of our conversation we end up responding with kitty kat pictures.

Each time they're confused 😂😂😂

Imagine being the big-boss of some place and unironically having to deal our dumbasses because we're the only morons willing to collect malware material at this scale😂😂

The CEO of Telegram was arrested in France at 8PM (approx. 3 hours ago as of this writing).

It is alleged he was arrested for lack of moderation on Telegram and not complying with Law Enforcement agencies.

https://www.tf1info.fr/justice-faits-divers/info-tf1-lci-le-fondateur-et-pdg-de-la-messagerie-cryptee-telegram-interpelle-en-france-2316072.html

Just detonated ransomware on my ransomed computer. Now the ransomware group is being ransomed so they can get their ransom from me.

Administrative updates:

- Daily malware ingestion average is 400,000
- Infrastructure difficulties with our VXDB — migrating is illegal and for nerds
- Paper additions temporarily suspended
- SosMula of City Morgue agreed to give us his autograph

Have a nice day

upgraded the cooling system last night

been a tough week fr

Helping us helps students and academics across the planet with cybersecurity research and education.

Universities that use vx-underground (in some capacity):

- University of Science and Technology of China
- East Carolina University
- The University of Oklahoma
- Gazi University
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Dokuz Eylül University
- Ain Shams University
- Autonomous University of Nuevo León
- Central Connecticut State University
- Louisiana State University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- University of Alabama in Huntsville
- Iowa State University
- Columbia University
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- University of North Carolina
- Liberty University of Virginia
- Full Sail University
- Jordan University of Science and Technology
- Deakin University
- George Mason University
- Instituto Tecnologico de Las Americas
- Gadjah Mada University
- Arizona State University

Regarding Pavel Durov, the apprehension of the CEO of Telegram:

tl;dr is he responsible for the crazy stuff people do?

There is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom of consequences. Indeed — Mr. Durov provides a platform used by journalists and individuals communicating under tyranny. However, because Mr. Durov is the CEO of a large communications platform, his organization is subject to different territories judicial rulings. Virtually every single country on the planet has regulations in place which define the responsibilities of the entity (i.e. organization) and the roles they must introduce to prohibit illegal behavior. Some countries are more restrictive, others are more 'lax.

It is no surprise really France (and surely other countries beyond France) believe Mr. Durov must be held responsible for the behavior of its end users. This is not a debate of 'free speech' as it falls within the scope of liability of end user behavior.

Example: we are aware Wagner Group openly recruits people on Telegram. Should Wagner group be allowed on Telegram? Many countries despise this group, whereas other countries like this group and praise their actions (we are sure our western colleagues may find that shocking). If they are allowed to use Telegram, to what end can they operate? Is Mr. Durov responsible for their actions which violate laws in different regions? This is not a rhetorical question. Each country, people from different geographical locations, philosophical beliefs, religions, and personal experiences will answer this question differently.

Moreover, because some people have condemned Telegram for being a drug market — this is nothing new to social media platforms. It is common place for many social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to find people advertising drug sales. The primary difference is Telegram is less likely to cooperate with western governments and Telegram does not fall within the reach of western governments. Meta (e.g. Facebook, Instagram) cooperates with law enforcement on both a local and federal level for nearly every single country on the planet.

We have no comment on the debate on E2E encryption. We use Signal. We'll let someone privy to privacy stuff to take that lead.

This is just our pseudo-educated (still ignorant) comment on a very complex problem which will continue to plague companies as things become more global.